Deconstructing Fatalism: Ethnographic Perspectives on Women's Decision Making about Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Volumn 25, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 164-182

  Drew, Elaine M ^a   Schoenberg, Nancy E ^b  

^a MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY   (United States)

Author keywords

Appalachia; Cancer; Fatalism; Health decisions; Prevention

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; DECISION MAKING; ETHNOLOGY; FEMALE; HUMAN; HYSTERECTOMY; MIDDLE AGED; NEOPLASM; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; UNITED STATES; VAGINA SMEAR;

ADULT; AGED; ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL; APPALACHIAN REGION; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; DECISION MAKING; FEMALE; HUMANS; HYSTERECTOMY; MIDDLE AGED; NEOPLASMS; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; UNITED STATES; VAGINAL SMEARS;

EID: 79957954928     PISSN: 07455194     EISSN: 15481387     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1387.2010.01136.x     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. Altekruse, S. F., C. L. Kosary, M. Krapcho, N. Neyman, R. Aminou, W. Waldron, J. Ruhl, N. Howlader, Z. Tatalovich, H. Cho, A. Mariotto, M. P. Eisner, D. R. Lewis, K. Cronin, H. S. Chen, E. J. Feuer, D. G. Stinchcomb, and B. K. Edwards, eds. 2010 SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2007, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, based on November 2009 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER website, accessed August 11, 2009.
2. American Cancer Society 2009 Cancer Facts and Figures. accessed December 3, 2009.
3. Anglin, Mary 1992 A Question of Loyalty: National and Regional Identity in Narratives of Appalachia. Anthropology Quarterly 65(3):105-116.
4. Angus, J., S. Evans, J. Lapum, E. Rukholm, R. St. Onge, R. Nolan, and I. Michel 2005 "Sneaky Disease": The Body and Health Knowledge for People at Risk for Coronary Heart Disease in Ontario, Canada. Social Science and Medicine 60(9):2117-2128.
5. Balshem, M. 1991 Cancer, Control, and Causality: Talking about Cancer in a Working Class Community. American Ethnology 18:152-172.
6. Barney, Sandra 2000 Authorized to Heal: Gender, Class, and the Transformation of Medicine in Appalachia, 1880-1930. Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press.
7. Bernard, H. Russell 2002 Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology. London AltaMira Press.
8. Brett, Kate M., and Jennifer H. Madans 1992 Hysterectomy Use: The Correspondence between Self-Reports and Hospital Records. American Journal of Public Health 84(10):1653-1655.
9. Chavez, L. R., F. A. Hubbell, S. I. Mishra, and R. B. Valdez 1997 The Influence of Fatalism on Self-Reported Use of Papanicolaou Smears. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 13(4):418-424.
10. Christensen, Alan, Patricia Moran, Shawna Ehlers, Katherine Raichle, Lucy Karnell, and Gerry Funk 1999 Smoking and Drinking Behavior in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: Effects of Behavioral Self-Blame and Perceived Control. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 22(5):407-418.
11. Cohen, D., and R. E. Nisbett 1998 Are There Differences in Fatalism between Rural Southerners and Midwesterners? Journal of Applied Social Psychology 28(23):2181-2195.
12. Conrad, M. E. 1996 Fatalism and Breast Cancer in Black Women. Annals of Internal Medicine 125(11):941-942.
13. Davison, C., G. Davey-Smith, and S. Frankel 1991 Lay Epidemiology and the Prevention Paradox: the Implications of Coronary Candidacy for Health. Sociology of Health and Illness 13(1):1-19.
14. Davison, C., S. Frankel, and G. Davey-Smith 1992 The Limits of Lifestyle: Re-Assessing Fatalism in the Popular Culture of Illness Prevention. Social Science and Medicine 34(6):675-685.
15. Dignan, M., R. Michielutte, H. B. Wells, and J. Bahsson 1994 The Forsyth County Cervical Cancer Prevention Project-I. Cervical Cancer Screening for Black Women. Health Education Research 9:411-420.
16. Drew, Elaine 2004 Just Get Rid of It! The Cultural Politics of Hysterectomy in a Rural Appalachian County. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky.
17. Eller, Ronald D. 1999 Foreword. In Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes: Back Talk from an American Region. Dwight Billings, Gurney Norman, and Katherine Ledford, eds. Pp. ix-xi. Lexington University Press of Kentucky.
18. Emerson, Robert, Rachel Fretz, and Linda Shaw 1995 Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago University of Chicago Press.
19. Franklin, Monica, David Schlundt, and Kenneth Wallston 2008 Development and Validation of a Religious Health Fatalism Measure for the African-American Faith Community. Journal of Health Psychology 13(3):323-335.
20. Freeman, H. 1989 Cancer and the Socioeconomically Disadvantaged. Atlanta American Cancer Society.
21. Gravitt, P. E., and R. Jamshidi 2005 Diagnosis and Management of Oncogenic Cervical Human Papillomavirus Infection. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America 19(2):439-458.
22. Green, Adele, D. Purdie, L. Green, M. Dick, C. Bain, and V. Siskind 1997 Validity of Self-Reported Hysterectomy and Tubal Sterilization. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 21(3):337-340.
23. Gregg, J., and R. Curry 1994 Explanatory Models for Cancer among African American Women at Two Atlanta Neighborhood Health Centers: The Implications for a Cancer Screening Program. Social Science and Medicine 39(4):519-526.
24. Harris, D. M., J. E. Miller, and D. M. Davis 2003 Racial Differences in Breast Cancer Screening, Knowledge, and Compliance. Journal of the National Medical Association 95(8):693-701.
25. Heyman, B., J. Swain, M. Gillman, E. C. Handyside and W. Newman 1997 Alone in the Crowd: How Adults with Learning Disabilities Cope with Social Network Problems. Social Science and Medicine 44(1):41-53.
26. Hoffman-Goetz, L. 1999 Cancer Experiences of African-American Women as Portrayed in Popular Mass Magazines. Psych-Oncology 8:36-45.
27. Hopenhayn, C., H. Bush, A. Christian, and B. J. Shelton 2005 Comparative Analysis of Invasive Cervical Cancer Incidence Rates in Three Appalachian states. Preventive Medicine 41(5-6):859-864.
28. Horwitz, R. I., and E. C. Yu 1985 Problems and Proposals for Interview Data in Epidemiological Research. International Journal of Epidemiology 14:463-467.
29. Huang, B., S. Wyatt, T. Tucker, D. Bottorff, E. Lengerich, and H. Hall 2002 Cancer Death Rates: Appalachia, 1994-1998. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly 51(24):527-529.
30. Hunt, Kate, Charlie Davison, Carole Emslie, and Graeme Ford 2000 Are Perceptions of a Family History of Heart Disease Related to Health-Related Attitudes and Behaviour? Health Education Research 15:131-143.
31. Kalichman, S. C., J. Kelly, and D. Rompa 1997 Fatalism, Current Life Satisfaction, and Risk for HIV Infection among Gay and Bisexual Men. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 65(4):542-546.
32. Kentucky Cancer Registry N.d. Cervical Cancer Mortality Rates by Appalachian Region in Kentucky., accessed July 15, 2010.
33. Kjerulff, Kristen, Patricia Langenberg, and Gay Guzinski 1993 The Socioeconomic Correlates of Hysterectomies in the United States. American Journal of Public Health 83(1):106-108.
34. Lannin, D., H. Mathews, J. Mitchell, M. Swanson, F. Swanson, and M. Edwards 1998 Influence of Socioeconomic and Cultural Factors on Racial Differences in Late-Stage Presentation of Breast Cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association 279(22):1801-1807.
35. Leach, C. R., and N. E. Schoenberg, 2007 The Vicious Cycle of Inadequate Early Detection: A Complementary Study on Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening among Middle Aged and Older Women. Preventing Chronic Disease 4(4):A95.
36. Lengerich, E. J., T. Tucker, R. Powell, P. Colsher, A. Ward, and S. Wyatt 2003 Cancer Incidence in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia: Disparities in Appalachia. Presented at the American Public Health Association (APHA) 131st Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, November 15-19.
37. Luquis, R. R., and I. J. Villanueva 2006 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions about Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Screening among Hispanic Women Residing in South Central Pennsylvania. Journal of Community Health 31(1):25-42.
38. Macintyre, S. 1995 The Public Understanding of Science or the Scientific Understanding of the Public? A Review of the Social Context of the "New Genetics. Public Understanding of Science 4:223-232.
39. Mayo, R. M., J. R. Ureda, and V. G. Parker 2001 Importance of Fatalism in Understanding Mammography Screening in Rural Elderly Women. Journal of Women and Aging 13(1):1-19.
40. Michelieutte, Robert, Mark Dignan, Penny Sharp, Jeanne Boxley, and Bradley Wells 1996 Skin Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Practices in a Sample of Rural Women. Preventive Medicine 25(6):673-683.
41. Moore, S. M., and D. A. Rosenthal 1991 Condoms and Coitus: Adolescents' Attitudes to AIDS and Safe Sex Behavior. Journal of Adolescence 14:211-227.
42. Nichter, Mark 2010 Idioms of Distress Revisited. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 34:401-416.
43. Perez-Stable, E. J., F. Sabogal, R. Otero-Sabogal, R. A. Hiatt, and S. J. McPhee 1992 Misconceptions about Cancer among Latinos and Anglos. Journal of American Medical Association 268:3219-3223.
44. Powe, Barbara D. 1995 Fatalism among Elderly African-Americans. Cancer Nursing 18:385-392.
45. Powe, Barbara D. 1996 Cancer Fatalism among African-Americans: A Review of the Literature. Nursing Outlook 44:18-21.
46. Powe, Barbara D. 2002 Promoting Fecal Occult Blood Testing in Rural African American Women. Cancer Practice 10(3):139-146.
47. Powe, Barbara D., E. C. Daniels, and R. Finnie 2005 Comparing Perceptions of Cancer Fatalism among African American Patients and Their Providers. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 17(8):318-324.
48. Powe, Barbara D., and R. Finnie 2003 Cancer Fatalism: The State of the Science. Cancer Nursing 26(6):454-465.
49. Powe, B. D., and S. Weinrich 1999 An Intervention to Decrease Cancer Fatalism among Rural Elders. Oncology Nursing Forum 26(3):583-588.
50. Ries, L. A. G., M. P. Eisner, C. L. Kosary, B. F. Hankey, B. A. Miller, L. Clegg, A. Mariotto, E. J. Feuer, and B. K. Edwards, eds. 2005 SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2002. Bethesda, MD National Cancer Institute.
51. Rimer, Barbara K., Helen Meissner, Nancy Breen, Julie Legler, and Cathy A. Coyne 2001 Social and Behavioral Interventions to Increase Breast Cancer Screening. In Integrating Behavioral and Social Science with Public Health. Neil Schneiderman, Marjorie Speers, Julie M. Silva, Henry Tomes, and Jacquelyn H. Gentry, eds. Pp. 177-202. Washington, DC American Psychological Association.
52. Rotter, J. B., M. Seeman, and S. Liverant 1962 Internal versus External Control of Reinforcement: A Major Variable in Behavior Theory. In Decisions, Values, and Groups. N. F. Washburn, ed. Pp. 473-516. London Pergamon.
53. Schoenberg, Nancy E., and Elaine M. Drew 2002 Articulating Silences: Experiential and Biomedical Constructions of Hypertension Symptomatology. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 16(4):458-475.
54. Schoenberg, Nancy E., C. Hopenhayn, A. Christian, E. Knight, and A. Rubio 2006 An In-Depth and Updated Perspective on Determinants of Cervical Cancer Screening among Central Appalachian Women. Journal of Women and Health 42(2):89-105.
55. Shankar, S., E. Selvin E., and A. J. Alberg 2002 Perceptions of Cancer in an African-American Community: A Focus Group Report. Ethnicity and Disease 12(2):276-283.
56. Smedley, B. D., and S. L. Syme 2000 Promoting Health: Intervention Strategies from Social and Behavioral Research. Washington, DC National Academy Press.
57. Spurlock, W. R., and L. S. Cullins 2006 Cancer Fatalism and Breast Cancer Screening in African American Women. Journal of the Association of Black Faculty in Higher Education, Inc. 17(1):38-43.
58. Steginga, Suzanne K., and Stefano Occhipinti 2006 Dispositional Optimism as a Predictor of Men's Decision-Related Distress after Localized Prostate Cancer. Health Psychology 25(2):135-143.
59. Straughan, P. T., and A. Seow 1998 Fatalism Reconceptualized: A Concept to Predict Health Screening Behavior. Journal of Gender, Culture, and Health 3(2):85-100.
60. Strauss, A., and J. Corbin 1990 Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park Sage.
61. Underwood, S. 1997 Cancer Risk Reduction and Early Detection Behaviors among Black Men: Focus on Learned Helplessness. Journal of Community Health Nursing 9(1):21-31.
62. U.S. Census Bureau 2000. Kentucky-County: GCT-P6. Race and Hispanic or Latino. Accessed July 1, 2003.
63. Webster's Dictionary 2010 Fatalism., accessed June 30, 2009.
64. Weller, Jack 1965 Yesterday's People. Lexington University of Kentucky Press.
65. Whiteman, M. K., S. D. Hillis, D. J. Jamieson, B. Morrow, M. N. Podgornik, K. M. Brett, and P. A. Marchbanks 2008 Inpatient Hysterectomy Surveillance in the United States, 2000-2004. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 198(1):34.e1-7.
66. Wolff, M., T. Bates, B. Beck, S. Young, S. Ahmed, and C. Maurana 2003 Cancer Prevention in Underserved African American Communities: Barriers and Effective Strategies: A Review of the Literature. Wisconsin Medical Journal 102(5):36-40.